There is a continuing demand for new polymeric materials with new and useful properties. The majority of synthetic polymers are formed from the polymerisation of compounds derived from the petroleum industry. The volatile price of oil, combined with its non-renewable nature, has led to a considerable amount of research effort being directed towards discovering alternate sources of compounds for use in polymer synthesis. One such source that has received continuing interest is biologically derived material that can function as, or be converted into, industrially useful compounds for use in polymer synthesis. The renewable nature of many biologically derived materials makes them particularly attractive.
Unfortunately, however, many biologically derived materials do not possess properties that would otherwise make them suitable compounds for polymer synthesis. For example many biologically derived materials, such as unsaturated vegetable oils, typically do not possess useful functionality (such as amino, hydroxyl, carboxy groups and suitably reactive double bonds) that readily allow for polymerisation to take place. In the course of synthetically installing such useful functionality, through oxidation of one or more double bonds to form hydroxyl groups for example, the mechanical properties of the biologically derived materials are often adversely modified. On the other hand, some biologically derived materials may possess useful functionality for polymerisation but may not possess other structural features providing desirable properties for new and useful polymeric materials.
An opportunity therefore exists to provide polymers with new and useful properties which have been prepared using compounds derived from a renewable source.